The present invention relates to packet switching in general. More specifically, the invention relates to a method for reserving communication bit rates in a switching network of asynchronous packets and, if necessary, synchronous packets, and to packet switches to implement the method.
The routing of any bit rates and the sharing of the same transmission resources constitute the main advantage of asynchronous time-division switching. Of the well-known switching techniques, this switching technique is the most capable of meeting the different constraints that weigh on wideband integrated services digital networks (WB-ISDN), particularly constraints with regard to adaptability, flexibility and open-endedness. However, in an asynchronous time-division switching network, in application of the flow statistic, no bit rate control is carried out, and any new communication request is accepted by the network. When traffic increases and becomes relatively important, queues included in the network switches overflow and a considerable deterioration of communications ensues. The packet loss rate is then such that the quality of communications is no longer acceptable.